teachers. What they taught was correct, but the teachers themselves were false. The second question follows: "Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal!" (2:21). The Law said, "Thou shalt not steal" (Exodus 20:15). The Jew knew the Law, and when he preached it he knew he was represent ing God who gave the Law. The person who acts as a herald of God's Word should not be guilty of committing those sins forbidden by the Word. Paul testified, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast away" (I Corinthians 9:27). The third question; "Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery/" (2:22). The Seventh Commandment forbade this sin, stating clearly, "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20: 14). David was a national hero in Israel, yet he was guilty of commit ting adultery. The Lord Jesus Christ stated and interpreted this commandment in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:27, 28), and later He emphasized its importance when answering the Pharisees (Matthew 19:3-9). In the fourth question Paul asks: "Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege!" (2:22). God's first words to Israel, when He gave them the Ten Commandments, were a warning against every form of idolatry (Exodus 20: 1- 6). Idolatry was an evil the Jews were taught to detest. It was an ugly thing to be shunned. The word "sacrilege" (Gr. hierosuleo) means to rob temples, to pillage idols from shrines. This is possibly the sin alluded to by the town clerk at Ephesus (Acts 19:37). Vine says, "The treasures of the idol temples perhaps attracted the avarice of some Jews, who would excuse themselves on the score of the wickedness of idolatry." God anticipated just such a coveteous spirit among His people after they would enter the Promised Land, hence they were forbidden to desire the silver and gold in the images of heathen temples (Deuteronomy 7:25, 26). Finally, Paul asks, "Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God! For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you ..."(2:23, 24). This last of the five questions is a clincher, verse 25 explaining verse 24 as it drives home the 71
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